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From an IWPR report: By Aziz Kurbanov (RCA No. 461, 17-Aug-06) It was May 2001 when President Islam Karimov proclaimed the “era of the internet” in Uzbekistan. Five years on, however, the picture is grim. In the wake of the Andijan massacre, Uzbekistan is more closed off than ever and the government has taken almost total control of the country’s last source of independent information - the internet. All sites which criticise Uzbekistan have been blocked along with those offering a more positive perspective on the country and its politics. Internet cafes are under surveillance and emails are frequently blocked. “The internet will not be shut down, but it will always be under control,” said a local human rights activist who asked not to be named. A frequent internet user in the city of Fergana told IWPR that the only accessible Uzbek sites are those approved by the authorities, such as UzA and UzReport.com. Independent Russian sites like www.lenta.ru, www.gazeta.ru and www.fergana.ru are blocked along with opposition and religious ones. Recent local victims of government blocking have been Neweurasia – a website hosting a network of blogs about Central Asia and the Caucasus and Uzmetronom.org. The editor of Tribune-uz.info decided to suspend operations in early July because of harassment from the authorities. “You can only access prohibited sites through anonymous sites like anonymiser [a web proxy service designed to circumvent censorship efforts], but this is also very risky because all computers are connected to a common network,” said the Fergana source. “ I once went to an internet café to send an email to Tashkent. When I pressed ‘send’ I got the message, ‘This file is being used by other users. You cannot send the message.’ When I told the administrator about this he said, ‘You can’t send anything at the moment.’” Reporters Without Borders, RWB, has named Uzbekistan as one of the world’s 15 internet black holes along with Burma, Belarus and North Korea. It cites cafes in the capital which threaten 5,000 som (four euro) fines for looking at pornographic sites and 10,000 som fines for consulting banned political sites. RWB, which fights for freedom of the press and freedom of expression, says about 350 internet firms provide web access in Uzbekistan, with the majority going through the state-owned ISP UzPak. It works closely with the state security police, NSS, to ensure nothing deemed unsuitable makes it through the net. Anyone who wants to provide internet service must register with the NSS, which issues a list of banned sites and instructions to report anyone that tries to visit them and when. Government figures from 2005 suggest internet users number around 675,000 in Uzbekistan but a regular internet user in Tashkent suggests that the vast majority use the web for computer games. He said he recently visited the Silver internet café in Tashkent, where “of the 22 computers there, only four [were] being used for the internet, while people at the 18 others are playing various games”. At the heart of the problem, according to RWB, is the February 2003 freedom of information law which cites the protection of “moral values of society, national security and the country’s spiritual, cultural and scientific potential” as reasons to restrict traditional media or internet reports. This vague definition leaves plenty of room for interpretation and censorship, RWB points out. And the situation deteriorated even further after the Andijan attacks last year. The government clamped down hard on media following the massacre during which security forces opened fire on crowds of civilian protesters. In the weeks and months that followed, the small number of reporters working for international broadcasters and other news outlets, including IWPR, either stopped working or fled the country. All impartial news has been blacked out since the uprising with the US, Russian and British networks CNN, NTV and BBC cut off. Journalists have also been attacked and imprisoned including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Nosir Zokirov who was sentenced to six months in jail for his reporting of the May 13 storming of Andijan prison. One Uzbek interviewed by IWPR said Karimov has taken these drastic steps out of fear that his time in power is nearly up. “A crisis for Karimov is unavoidable. It could happen any minute,” said Yuldash Achilov, a member of the opposition party Erk who currently lives in Europe. “To keep people in an information blockade are the last actions by Karimov.” Aziz Kurbanov is the pseudonym of an IWPR contributor.

On July 27th Reporters Without Borders brought attention to a new trend in internet censorship in Uzbekistan. It was reported that the government "probably" ordered the censorship of Neweurasia.net after new Russian and Uzbek language versions of the cite were released. Neweurasia.net is an independent news source that offers alternative news coverage in parts of the world where the internet has been subject to government control. The Neweurasia.net organization pointed out that users can still get around government censorship and stressed the importance of independent news and information. As of right now anyone trying to log onto Neweurasia form Uzbekistan is automatically redirected to MSN.com. In Uzbekistan all local ISPs (one of which Neweurasia.net runs on) are required to be connected to the state-owned operator Uzbektelecom as of last November because this internet provider facilitates the enforcement of government blacklists.

From the Kazakhstan News Bulletin released weekly to the United States and Canada: by May 15th the Kazak news portal had been opened for a month providing services for citizens and foreign visitors. There are at least 377 services accessible from www.e.gov.kz with the hope to increase that number to 933 by the end of this year. This website comes as part of Kazakhstan's efforts to provide a more accessible system for citizens to acquire government services while reducing corruption. Later this year licenses will be issued online without any face to face interaction. Askar Zhumagaliev, Chairman of Kazakhstan's Agency on information technology development and communications, said this program "will eliminate any bureaucratic barriers and remove any opportunities for corruption." Zhumagaliev has also been involved in electronic document exchange. By the end of this year we can expect all government bodies to be using this type of exchange coming on the heels of a law legalizing electronic exchange which was recently passed.

From the China and Eurasia Forum Weekly Newsletter: The heads of member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) - the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, met in Shanghai on 15 June 2006 and made the following statement: The rapid development and extensive application of new information communication technology (ICT) is one of the most important features of the world today. Prevalent in all areas of human activities, ICT has formed a global information system that has a direct impact on all aspects of national security, including politics, economy, national defence and culture, and even on the entire international security and stability system. Information system is becoming an important stimulant of social vitality, and information is the most valuable wealth and most important political and economic resource of a country. The heads of state believe that ICT opens up huge potentials for human development and their enjoyment of rights and freedoms to a fuller extent. It offers more possibilities and means to ensure effective operation of the society in all countries and to establish a global partnership for sustainable development, security and prosperity. Meanwhile, the heads of state express concern over the immediate threat of using ICT for the following purposes: to undermine the basic principles of equality, mutual respect, non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-use of force and respect of human rights, and to bring serious harm to individual, social and national security. Moreover, in both civil and military fields, there is the possible danger of using ICT for criminal, terrorist, military and political purposes that run counter to the maintenance of international security, which will cause serious political, social and economic consequences to countries and regions, or even the entire world, and trigger social instability in countries. The heads of state point out useful efforts have been made by all countries to enhance information security. They also believe that the negative impact of the use of ICT in a destructive way by criminals including terrorists, their gangs and organisations, and even some countries for military and political purposes, is extensive, affecting other countries and sometimes even the whole world. The use of ICT for the above-mentioned purposes may cause a catastrophe for the entire world tantamount to that resulted from the use of weapons of mass destruction. The heads of state emphasise that ICT should not only act as a carrier in the information world, but also, more importantly, promote closer ties and better integration among diversified cultures and civilisations. In this process, religious beliefs and traditions of people of all countries, the SCO’s member states included, should be respected. The heads of state also emphasise that the transnational nature of ICT and current threats and challenges make it imperative for all countries to step up their efforts on information security through bilateral, regional and international cooperation. Only with well-coordinated and complementary measures taken by all countries, can the current challenges and threats to information security be effectively dealt with. In view of this, the heads of state support the United Nations in its relevant efforts, including analysing the existing and potential threats in the field of information security, taking collective actions to eliminate these threats and studying the relevant international proposals aimed at strengthening security of the global information and communication system, and deem it important to continue these efforts. The heads of state welcome Resolution 60/45 Development in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security adopted by the 60th session of the UN General Assembly on 8 December 2005, and express their willingness to promote the implementation of the proposals set forth in the Resolution. The heads of state declare that the member states hold similar positions on key issues concerning international information security and wish to work in concert to take up new information challenges and threats within the framework of the SCO. In this process, they will abide by the international law, including the norms and principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. With this in mind, the heads of state have decided to establish an international information security expert group among the SCO member states, consisting of representatives of the SCO Secretariat and the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Antiterrorist Structure, to formulate a plan of action for international information security and define ways and means to solve problems concerning international information security within the framework of the SCO. (SCO Secretariat)